I've googled for a solution many times over years so now I've figured it out I thought I'd share.When using a CSV file in Datamerge, all characters like ' & !£$%^&*) come out as weird text like "‚äô" so usually I reluctantly find and replace these odd characters with intended ones but one always slips to print and I don't like this unsolved hacky solution. Now I've found a way!Here's what works for me:Use excel (or what ever you prefer) to create your spread sheet of data - this is your masterWhen your done, save a new copy as a TAB seperated value file (TSV) Open this in Text Edit (or what ever you prefer) Save asSet UTF-16 NOT 8, include UTF16 in the name you save it as, so you know which one to load into IndesignSelect source data in indesign use the UTF16 text doc you just madeTo update, edit the master document and go through steps 2 - 6 again, you shouldn't need to re do placeholders in Indesign.This works for me using Google Sheets, Text Edit (MAC) and Adobe Indesign CC 2015 on iMac El Capitan 10.11.6Comment if this works for you!

Participant

Question

Data Merge csv weird character conversion ' = ‚äô - SOLVED

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
August 22, 2017
3 replies
11150 views

I've googled for a solution many times over years so now I've figured it out I thought I'd share.

When using a CSV file in Datamerge, all characters like ' & !£$%^&*) come out as weird text like "‚äô" so usually I reluctantly find and replace these odd characters with intended ones but one always slips to print and I don't like this unsolved hacky solution. Now I've found a way!

Here's what works for me:

Use excel (or what ever you prefer) to create your spread sheet of data - this is your master
When your done, save a new copy as a TAB seperated value file (TSV)
Open this in Text Edit (or what ever you prefer)
Save as
Set UTF-16 NOT 8, include UTF16 in the name you save it as, so you know which one to load into Indesign
Select source data in indesign use the UTF16 text doc you just made
To update, edit the master document and go through steps 2 - 6 again, you shouldn't need to re do placeholders in Indesign.

This works for me using Google Sheets, Text Edit (MAC) and Adobe Indesign CC 2015 on iMac El Capitan 10.11.6

Comment if this works for you!

This topic has been closed for replies.

D

defaulthj9k6aef451i

Participant

This worked for me, thank you!

L

luixsilveirassi

Participating Frequently

Hi.

After a long winter, I've finally found a way. I'm using Apple Numbers and decided to test all .CSV encodings. The only one that worked was "Western Mac OS Roman".

The only extra step was to convert ";" to "," because my Numbers export with ";" (I can't find a way to change it).

Hope it helps.

Luiz

JonathanArias

Legend

what does the .csv file look like? are there empty values with commas after them. hidden merged cells will create extra spaces in the .csv file. using text wragler you can quickly clean up your .csv file.

a clean .csv file is important from my past experiences.

ex:

title;

entry,

entry.

....

E

emelawfordAuthor

Participant

My issue wasn't spaces but the conversion of intentional characters, for example it replaces apostrophes "'" with "‚äô" and this happens for most symbols I want to use in my text.

The method I've posted uses TSV instead of CSV, and then TXT.

Works for me!

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